Katie J. Wells
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katiejwells.bsky.social
Katie J. Wells
@katiejwells.bsky.social
3K followers 590 following 450 posts
i study how labor platforms shape the way we live in cities. geographer. research director @groundwork.bsky.social. new book: DISRUPTING D.C. (Princeton Univ Press 2023) http://katiejwells.net
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Reposted by Katie J. Wells
brian-goldstone.bsky.social
Absolutely stunned and honored to see THERE IS NO PLACE FOR US on this list.

I'm grateful beyond words to the five families who trusted me with their stories and allowed me to witness their struggle to secure a home.
The 10 Best Books of 2025
www.nytimes.com
December 2, 2025 at 12:42 PM
katiejwells.bsky.social
Thanks so much for including our @rooseveltinstitute.org work on gig nursing. A fav project w/ the brilliant @fundaustek.bsky.social.
December 2, 2025 at 1:51 PM
katiejwells.bsky.social
please join me in being a day 1 supporter. she is the dc we need.
December 1, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Reposted by Katie J. Wells
brian-goldstone.bsky.social
"Homelessness today isn't just the person sleeping outside a Walmart. It's often the cashier or worker stocking the shelves inside."

I joined @pbsnews.org to talk about There Is No Place for Us and the staggering rise of the "working homeless":
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
Brian Goldstone appears on a PBS News Weekend, speaking from a room lined with bookshelves. A lower-third caption reads: “BRIAN GOLDSTONE — Journalist and Author, ‘There Is No Place for Us.’”
November 29, 2025 at 11:54 PM
katiejwells.bsky.social
The gift we all need. Subscribe. Support truth-making. It's free.
51st.news The 51st @51st.news · 7d
When DCist was shut down, it had 70,000+ subscribers.
The 51st is proud to carry forward the spirit with which DCist served our city.

But we can’t stop thinking about how most of those subscribers — our neighbors and friends — are just no longer receiving the kind of local news they signed up for.
November 26, 2025 at 1:33 AM
katiejwells.bsky.social
For context on the (private equity- and silicon valley-powered) assault on the nursing industry, "Uber for Nursing." rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...
kamimagic.bsky.social kamimagic @kamimagic.bsky.social · 11d
The DOE just cut multiple fields from the “professional degree” list, shrinking loan access for future workers. Nursing, PAs, PT, OT, audiology, public health, social work, & education master’s all got dropped.

And yes, they’re fields dominated by women.
#ProudBlue
www.newsweek.com/nursing-not-...
Nursing is no longer counted as a 'professional degree' by Trump admin
The Department of Education has excluded nursing as a "professional degree" program as it implements various changes to student loans.
www.newsweek.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Reposted by Katie J. Wells
gadyepstein.bsky.social
“We’ve tried to not have to do it, but we've got direct orders,” the masked ICE agents told them www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/i...
"I asked for their names. They didn't give me their full names," Hestmark recalled of the agents. "They didn't show me their badge numbers. They didn't remove their masks. They simply said, 'We have a warrant for his arrest, and they handed me a QR code, and they put my husband in handcuffs. And they took him and said I couldn't follow." "She was just stunned," Paul said. "She kept asking what was wrong, what did we do? We'd done everything right." "We kept asking them if there was something we could do, if there was any way we could keep her from being separated from the family," he continued. We’re just trying to figure out what's happening, and they're just telling us, I'm sorry. We’ve tried to not have to do it, but we've got direct orders."| • "I had to take my baby, our baby, from his crying mother's arms," Paul said. "We were completely shocked, and I feel like we were tricked," Hestmark said. "We went through every possible legal and appropriate channel. We followed the advice of our lawyer. We were told that our case was straight forward." "He just wanted to be part of this country and for us to start our future together. And he wanted to do it… "Tom isn't in the system. I can't find him," Hestmark said. "I can't call him. I can't put money into his account. The lawyer doesn't know how to proceed because he hasn't been charged with anything." Both said their spouses were able to call them Thursday night, and they believed they were still being held in the basement of the federal building as of Friday afternoon. "She said that she was scared. She was anxious, missed her baby. She just wants to come home," Paul said. "She said the agents themselves were in the detention down in the basement of the federal building, saying, What are we doing here? These aren't the sort of people were supposed to be arresting.” "They hadn't given him anything to eat or any information," Hestmark said. "They gave him a mat and a foil blanket to sleep on." As she was detailing his arrest Friday afternoon, Bilger called Hestmark again from detention. She said he told her they had moved him to the Otay Mesa Detention Center and back but he hadn't slept and still hadn't been processed. "My wife's alone and terrified," Paul said. "My baby doesn't have his mom to hold him. I can't work right…
November 25, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Reposted by Katie J. Wells
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
we're going to win
carlquintanilla.bsky.social Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 7d
Page One in Cincinnati:

“.. I need to be able to look my grandkids in the eye and say I did not remain silent.”

#ICE
November 25, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Reposted by Katie J. Wells
justinhendrix.bsky.social
"Meta shut down internal research into the mental health effects of Facebook after finding causal evidence that its products harmed users mental health, according to unredacted filings in a lawsuit by US school districts against Meta and other social media platforms." www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
In a 2020 research project code-named “Project Mercury,” Meta (META.O), opens new tab scientists worked with survey firm Nielsen to gauge the effect of “deactivating” Facebook, according to Meta documents obtained via discovery. To the company’s disappointment, “people who stopped using Facebook for a week reported lower feelings of depression, anxiety, loneliness and social comparison,” internal documents said. Rather than publishing those findings or pursuing additional research, the filing states, Meta called off further work and internally declared that the negative study findings were tainted by the “existing media narrative” around the company. Privately, however, a staffer insisted that the conclusions of the research were valid, according to the filing. “The Nielsen study does show causal impact on social comparison,” (unhappy face emoji), an unnamed staff researcher allegedly wrote. Another staffer worried that keeping quiet about negative findings would be akin to the tobacco industry “doing research and knowing cigs were bad and then keeping that info to themselves.” Despite Meta’s own work documenting a causal link between its products and negative mental health effects, the filing alleges, Meta told Congress that it had no ability to quantify whether its products were harmful to teenage girls.
November 25, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Reposted by Katie J. Wells
princetonupress.bsky.social
Now available in #paperback, Disrupting D.C. by @katiejwells.bsky.social, Kafui Attoh, and Declan Cullen is a panoramic account of the urban politics and deep social divisions that gave rise to Uber.

Learn more and order yours: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

#Uber #Sociology
Disrupting D.C.: The Rise of Uber and the Fall of the City by Katie J. Wells, Kafui Attoh, and Declan Cullen
November 24, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Reposted by Katie J. Wells
brian-goldstone.bsky.social
THERE IS NO PLACE FOR US made NPR's Books We Love list!

It's described as a "paradigm-shifting, immersive book" and "a trenchant exploration of how America's disinvestment in public housing and relentless pursuit of free-market growth have fueled housing insecurity for poor working families."
Screenshot from NPR's 2025 Books We Love list: There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America Brian Goldstone In this paradigm-shifting, immersive book, journalist and anthropologist Brian Goldstone follows five families in Atlanta who, despite working full time, struggle to stay housed amid gentrification, a lack of tenants’ rights and low wages. These families, all Black, fall into a “shadow realm” – they are not considered officially homeless by the federal government, but lack a fixed living place as they double up with friends and family, sleep in their cars, or pay exorbitant rates at extended-stay hotels. Woven throughout their stories is a trenchant exploration of how America’s disinvestment in public housing and relentless pursuit of free-market growth have fueled housing insecurity for poor working families.
November 24, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Katie J. Wells
jamiepeck.bsky.social
Pls share: Applications open for Summer Institute in Economic Geography, Toronto, 5-10 July 2026

Featuring: Lars Coenen, Karen Lai, Devika Narayan and Stefan Ouma

Early career economic geographers (broadly defined) are welcome to apply. Stipends available. www.econgeog.net/Toronto2026
Toronto 2026 | Summer Institute in Economic Geography
www.econgeog.net
October 16, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by Katie J. Wells
lrb.co.uk
‘As with climate change, the focus on consumers deflects scrutiny that should be directed towards industry. Not only do companies help establish false representations of consumer wastefulness, they are themselves waste creators on a gigantic scale.’

Brett Christophers:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Brett Christophers · Assume the worst: Where our waste goes
Just as Big Oil has repeatedly failed to deliver on pledges to begin decarbonising, so too the promises of plastics...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 3:30 PM
katiejwells.bsky.social
A woman deported from Maryland after fleeing Sierra Leone 30 years ago says she reported to an ICE check-in and was flown to Ghana in shackles. In a country her family said she had no ties to, video shows her being dragged. www.nbcwashington.com/investigatio...
Woman deported from Maryland shown on video being dragged in Ghana
Rabbiatu Kuyateh was detained this summer at her annual ICE check-in, her son said. She moved to the D.C. area 30 years ago as she fled civil war in Sierra Leone.
www.nbcwashington.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Reposted by Katie J. Wells
libankerdc.bsky.social
Behind this important reversal is a member of the Coast Guard who saw what was happening and had the courage to leak it to the press. That person deserves serious praise.
November 21, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Reposted by Katie J. Wells
wpri12.bsky.social
#BREAKING: A student intern at Rhode Island Superior Court was briefly taken into custody by ICE this afternoon before a judge intervened, 12 News has learned. Story by @jusolyn.bsky.social and @timwhiteri.bsky.social: ⤵️
RI judge intervenes after ICE mistakenly detains Superior Court intern
A teenager was nearly taken into federal immigration custody in Providence Thursday afternoon before a Superior Court judge intervened, according to the Rhode Island Judiciary.
www.wpri.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Reposted by Katie J. Wells
aaup.org
The Trump admin weaponized Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to attack DEI programs, protections for trans people & freedom of speech at our universities.

We took the Trump admin to court over this in AAUP v. Trump and WON.

AAUP General Counsel Veena Dubal discusses what prompted the lawsuit👇
November 20, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Reposted by Katie J. Wells
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
"A Chinese immigrant was found dead in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, with his hands and feet tied behind him, an attorney has alleged."

www.newsweek.com/ice-detainee...
Man detained by ICE found dead, hanging with hands and feet tied—attorney
The Chinese national died in Pennsylvania in August, but his family's requests for answers from DHS have gone unmet.
www.newsweek.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Reposted by Katie J. Wells
brettchristophers.bsky.social
A new piece for @thenation.com on everyone's favourite industry -- private equity; in conversation with one of the many new books on PE, by Megan Greenwell.

Here:
Can We Blame Private Equity for Everything?
Did PE firms make the world worse? Or was it something else?
www.thenation.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Reposted by Katie J. Wells
alexctaliadoros.bsky.social
Phone lines immediately down. Hundreds lined up for hours in the cold. Funding slashed from $27 million to $9 million.

This is supposed to be DC’s lifeline for low-income tenants who fall behind on rent.

Instead, we get this.
November 20, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by Katie J. Wells
willoremus.com
Screenshot of text: “[We] at The Washington Post will continue to remind you that one of our colleagues in the not-so-distant past was murdered," Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post’s director of press freedom initiatives, told NPR on Tuesday. "That’s not something we can just wipe under the rug or forget about.” Trump offered a chummy welcome to Mohammed in the Oval Office, grasping his hand and wrist while mocking former president Joe Biden for offering a fist bump to the crown prince in 2022 because he did not want to shake hands with a man whose human rights record had been blasted by the U.S. intelligence community. “Trump doesn’t give a fist pump. I grab that hand. I don’t give a hell where that hand’s been,” Trump said, calling the crown prince “one of the most respected people in the world.” Trump called the inquiry about Khashoggi from ABC News reporter Mary Bruce a “horrible, insubordinate and just a terrible question,” adding that “I think the license should be taken away from ABC, because your news is so fake and it’s so wrong.” His anger came minutes after he praised his and Mohammed’s openness and willingness to answer any and every question.
November 18, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Reposted by Katie J. Wells
mollycrabapple.bsky.social
Hey authors! Check to see if Anthropic stole your book to train their slop generator on. You’re entitled to $1500 per stolen Work.

Look up your work, and if you’re in the database, file a claim
secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup/
Submit a Claim
secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com
November 18, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Reposted by Katie J. Wells
adamrothman.bsky.social
This article is not about Bryan but it does offer a glimpse of what is going on in DC, the capital of the land of the free. Anyway, thanks to those who have shared the Gofundme link and please continue to do so.
wapo.st/4r2L70A
November 18, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Reposted by Katie J. Wells
alexctaliadoros.bsky.social
Sadly, this MPD-ICE arrest is a nearly daily occurrence in DC now.

The DC police officers we pay with our tax dollars are being used to disappear our own neighbors and rip them away from their families.

All while our so-called leaders lie and pretend they are powerless to stop it.
D.C. leaders oppose patrols with DHS. Are they powerless to stop them?
The arrest comes as some D.C. residents have expressed mounting frustration with city officials over the level of police cooperation with immigration officials.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:05 AM
katiejwells.bsky.social
there are some things right in this world, and those things include @brian-goldstone.bsky.social. and the stories he shares about the kind of world we've chosen to build. thank you, brian. www.cbsnews.com/news/when-th...
When the employed are pushed into homelessness
Despite working full-time, many families are locked out of the rental housing market, due to low wages, soaring rents and poor credit, and have been pushed into homelessness.
www.cbsnews.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:22 PM